2020 CONCORDIA ANNUAL SUMMIT

P3 Impact Award Winner Announcement

Main Stage

• Thomas Debass gave his deepest appreciation to the seventh annual P3 Impact Award finalists and praised each with a well-deserved tribute to their achievements and hard work. Given to the most innovative public-private partnership of the year, the P3 Impact Award celebrates best practices for addressing complex global issues through cross-sector collaboration. 
• The University of Virginia Darden School Institute for Business in Society, the U.S. Department of State’s Office of Global Partnerships, and Concordia announced Eye Bank of Ethiopia’s Elimination of Corneal Blindness Partnership as the winner of the P3 Impact Award. Eye Bank of Ethiopia is a tripartite agreement between Ethiopia’s Federal Ministry of Health (FMoH), Addis Ababa City Administration Health Bureau, and ORBIS International Ethiopia, with the goal of eradicating corneal blindness worldwide by 2040. 
• Patrick Emery expanded upon the work being done by the Eye Bank of Ethiopia and the methods employed to tackle the challenges of both country-specific and global corneal care.  

“Public and private sector collaboration, embodied by partnerships that we are celebrating here today, facilitates innovation and impact on a scale that can bring economic security, peace, and prosperity to all nations,” Thomas Debass

About Eye Bank of Ethiopia Elimination of Corneal Blindness: More than 12 million people worldwide suffer needlessly in the dark because of corneal blindness, making it one of the world’s leading causes of avoidable blindness, especially in low-and middle-income areas, such as Ethiopia, where approximately 300,000 people are affected by corneal blindness. Eliminating corneal blindness requires patient access to good-quality, affordable eye care across all stages of life, the integration of corneal health services into primary healthcare systems, and access to transplant tissue. The Eye Bank of Ethiopia Elimination of Corneal Blindness Partnership (EBE), a public-private partnership between the Ethiopia Ministry of Health, SightLife, and the Himalayan Cataract Project, aims to serve as a model for development throughout Africa via the establishment of the first eye bank in Sub-Saharan Africa, which will utilize global best practices, ensure a steady supply of tissue to the country, and drive cornea health system policy enablers. Since the initiation of the partnership, the EBE has met 100% of the demand for corneal tissue in Ethiopia and has completed 2,400 transplants, with 70% of transplants being successful after five years.